Hello everyone.The Blue Devils play the American Heritage Patriots for the state title tomorrow at 1:00 in Orlando. Clay High has played in 4 very exciting close playoff games. A win tomorrow would give the school its first football state championship in almost 50 years. Channel 4's Hailey Winslow was in Green Cove Springs for the community's big send-off. She joins us now from the newsroom...Hailey? 3 3 0-034-727-3057-1:001:27- 1:30Champion-SHIP that is!...The boys paraded through is!...The boys SHIP that is!...The boys paraded through town before hitting the highway with hopes of snagging the state title for the first time since 1967. ...Clay High has had one heck of a season ... just keep swimming...their inspiration this season...after the Baseball Coach's wife pulled through a double lung transplant she wasn't expected to survive... and that's exactly what the boys have learned this season... and it's paid off... with a proper sendoff from the Green Cove Springs community... cheering and waving as they rolled out of town......hoping to return with the big win! 3 The headcoach from 1967, who's now in his 70's, along with the assistant coach and tailback of the state championship team were asked to be honorary captains at the Citrus Bowl tomorrow. 3 Hailey ... ?The game is tomorrow..are the students going to the game?

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -

The Clay Blue Devils will be seeking their first football state championship since 1967 when they take on the American Heritage Patriots in the Class 5A title game Friday afternoon.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Three of Clay's four playoff games were decided by two points or less, including a 74-73 shootout against Bishop Kenny.

"We're not supposed to be here," Clay QB Wes Weeks said. "Everybody's been doubting us and I'm just proud of the team, and we just want to go down there and make history."

The team paraded through town Thursday before hitting the highway.

"We're going past the elementary school -- future Blue Devils -- we're going past the junior high, we're going to the county office, to the courthouse," Clay High Principal Pete McCabe said of the sendoff. "They're all coming out along the roadway to see the Blue Devils. It's an experience the guys will remember the rest of their lives."

"We just haven't been ready to turn our pads in yet, and that's kind of been our motivation: just see you on Monday, just keep swimming," Weeks said.

The team has been inspired this year by the baseball coach's wife, who pulled through a double lung transplant she wasn't expected to survive.

"You just keep swimming, no matter what," athletic director Jay Stilianou said. "If your house burns down, if you don't get the grades you want, if you don't get the job you want, it doesn't matter, just keep swimming. Things will eventually get better."

That's exactly what the players have learned this season.

"Losing our quarterback, the starting tailback tearing his meniscus at the beginning of the year, maybe losing our best defender Jamie Peters at cornerback with a torn ACL right during the district championship run," Stilianou said. "But you know what, they just kept swimming every single game."

And it has paid off to this point.

"The Bishop game was awesome, and then J.T.'s catch with 4.7 seconds left, and then last week finishing off and winning by two," head coach Josh Hoekstra said. "It's been such a great ride, and now we're going to go finish it off."

If they get that big win, "We'll celebrate all the way back from Orlando," Hoekstra said.

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